Monday, March 23, 2009

Finland - The Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki (FI-492921)

I think I've already told you before that I like receiving city views from Finland :) In fact, I haven't received any Finnish card that I wouldn't like so far, but I prefer the city views just because the Finnish cities are less known than the landscapes. Still, there's something about the Finnish nature that I would like to see on a postcard :) I mean the northern lights (aurora borealis). I know that it's typical not only for Finland, but I think that probablity of receiving such card from Finland is higher, than from any other country, just because of the number of Finnish postcrossers :)

Dear reader of my blog, if you live in Finland (or any other country, where it's possible to get a card showing the aurora borealis), I would be really thankful if you agreed to exchange cards from me! :)

But let's come back to this card, which I find really beautiful and interesting as well :) It shows the Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki. It's considered to be the biggest Orthodox church in West Europe. Well, I wouldn't call Finland a West European country, because I live West from Finland and I'm proud of being East European :))) But I think the division into West and East Europe is based mostly on historical, political and cultural reasons. So I think that Finns are right in some way... And it's always nice to have something biggest in your country :)

FI-492921

Uspenski Cathedral (Finnish: Uspenskin katedraali, Swedish: Uspenskij-katedralen, Russian: Успенский собор) is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Helsinki, Finland, dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary). Its name comes from the Russian word uspenie, which denotes the Dormition. Designed by the Russian architect Alexey Gornostaev (1808-1862), the cathedral was built after his death in 1862-1868.The Cathedral is set upon a hillside on the Katajanokka peninsula overlooking the city. On the back of the cathedral, there is a plaque commemorating Russian Emperor Alexander II, who was the sovereign of the Grand Duchy of Finland during the cathedral's construction. Main cathedral of the Finnish Orthodox Church in the diocese of Helsinki, Uspenski Cathedral is claimed to be the largest orthodox church in Western Europe, although Finland is normally included into Northern Europe.